OH NO! Bugs...

[monivik]

Four weeks ago I got myself 3 new orchids, I was so excited about how it all went that I posted about it here.

Excited about my new purchase

Now I've heard before that when you buy a new one you should keep it separate from your other plants. So I've done that so far, kept the 3 together since they came from the same orchid nursery.

So far so good, but then I started noticing that the Schilleriana (which by the way is a young plant so it's pretty small) was having white dots by lower part of the leaves, I mean where they grow from. It looks a bit like specks of white flour, but really tiny. But because the plant is tiny and it's in a difficult area to reach, I've just been cleaning away what was possible.

I found it a bit suspicious though. Then today to my great horror I saw something that was slightly bigger than the speck, white colored but if you look real close it's got 2 antennas and it moves. I was like: OH NO!!! That's a bug.

Now I have a small scale collection of orchids, not much about 20, and just a few other plants. But most of them I had for many years, but I have never had any problems with pesky bugs, except for fungus gnats, which to my knowledge are not dangerous, just annoying.

My biggest fear here is that this would be mealybugs. Like I said I've never had that on any of my plants. So I'm only going after pictures that I've seen on the internet.

OK, so what do I do know? So far I haven't seen any of these on the other 2 that I just recently bought, even though they've been standing together. So I suppose it starts by separating the Schilleriana from the others.

Can I get rid of this?

[Dollythehun]

Pictures? Your description sounds like mealybugs. We need a picture for a firm diagnosis. Did you repot yet?

[monivik]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Pictures? Your description sounds like mealybugs. We need a picture for a firm diagnosis. Did you repot yet?

First of all no, I haven't repotted yet. So is this the first thing I should do?

I only saw the creepy crawlers today for the first time. There were two of them, I got rid of them with a cotton bud that had alcohol on it. But there are still the small white dots.

I'll see if I can try to make a picture again. My camera (cel-phone) didn't really want to focus, and wouldn't have made a clear picture. The thing is that it is all so tiny.

[Dollythehun]

IF they're mealys, they can live in the root system. A picture us important. There no sense to treat if you don't have a diagnosis.

[monivik]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

IF they're mealys, they can live in the root system. A picture us important. There no sense to treat if you don't have a diagnosis.

Ok, so used my husband's camera.

and OH NO!!!! It's worse that I thought.

Ok, so I'm taking it off the medium, and I'll start by using the alcohol on a cotton pad. I've got a 70% alcohol. I don't have so many cotton sticks left, I'll have to get some tomorrow.

So this is the start, what do I do then?

Fortunately I can't see any on my other orchids and plants yet... but I'll keep a close eye on them.

[Dollythehun]

I would repot them and wash them and the roots off well with soapy water, and then put fresh medium in. You can spray them at intervals with insecticidal soap or you can make your own with a few drops of dish soap and some water and spray it on. Some people use Neem oil. Just be sure whatever you use is labeled for mealy bugs. There is many different remedies as there are people here.

[monivik]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I would repot them and wash them and the roots off well with soapy water, and then put fresh medium in. You can spray them at intervals with insecticidal soap or you can make your own with a few drops of dish soap and some water and spray it on. Some people use Neem oil. Just be sure whatever you use is labeled for mealy bugs. There is many different remedies as there are people here.

Ok, thanks. I'll get started right away... but I don't have any neem oil or insecticidal soap. So I'll start with the soapy water then.

Oh and another thing about the repotting. I've only got small fraction bark, and spaghnum moss and perlite left. No medium fraction bark.

[estación seca]

In the photo of you turning up the leaf, that is a mealybug. If you don't have potting materials at hand, at least douse the plant, pot and all medium in the pot with the detergent solution. It doesn't take a high concentration, only 5ml/liter or less. That will kill the adults, but not the eggs.

[monivik]

Originally Posted by estación seca

In the photo of you turning up the leaf, that is a mealybug. If you don't have potting materials at hand, at least douse the plant, pot and all medium in the pot with the detergent solution. It doesn't take a high concentration, only 5ml/liter or less. That will kill the adults, but not the eggs.

Well, the old medium is already in the waste. So I got it cleaned up with the water soapy water. But then I also flushed it all under running water. Anyway some water got into the crown, and I'm always scared of crown rot, so I went in there with some toilet paper tissue and dried it up as much as I could. Right now it's as you can see in the picture all quarantined.

The pot it came in, I washed it with soap first and then I poured boiling water over it.

The thing is I hope it's not on my other two new orchids, that I bought at the same time. As you can see on the picture I kept the three of them (there's also a small pot with chives standing next to them) separate from my other orchids, yet in the same room.

Yeah so I don't see anything on the other orchids so far. But I think it's best I keep them separate like that now and keep an eye on them right?

Regarding repotting the Schilleriana, can I keep it like that in the glass for a few days? I'll see if I can get my hands on some bark tomorrow, but if not I'll have to order online and it'll take a couple of days.

[estación seca]

The bugs are probably on all three from the same source. The Phal. schilleriana will be fine like that for a long time.